Anna N's blog

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt Number Six : The Finale

[ It’s been a pleasure being a part of SYCEP 2014! Thanks to the staff for their dedication and thank you all for making this summer another great experience. (: Too bad we didn't have more time to get to know each other. ]

These six weeks have been one heck of a journey for me.

At the start of the program, I was somewhat ecstatic about working in the BPSOS office. Originally, my understanding was that I would be doing administrative work as the job description said. It turns out that I would be a part of Journey Home 2014; I thought it would be cool to “relive” my JH2013 experience with a new cohort of people and observe how they grow and connect. However, I was also disappointed: what experience would I gain from working with youth if I am aiming for a business major (although, officially, I am undecided)? I also thought I would never find someone to enjoy my summer with since I did not know anyone entering into JH.

But that is when I met Christine. I remembered her as the Girl-Who-Wrote-The-SYCEP-Speech for last summer’s graduation. In short, her positive attitude just radiates in waves across the entire office, so one can assume it is pretty contagious. We shared laughs, smiles and playful comments. I would not speak to any Homie that first week despite the fact I did know a few people from previous. Christine made me a less… let’s just say unkind… person, which made me more open to the Homies (even though at that time I would totally pronounce people’s names incorrectly).

Then Son came. It was nice to know someone else from JH 1.0 would be around the office. I liked our smoothie and bubble tea sessions (thank you, anh). It was also fun to talk to Dennis the Dentist-Lunch Lady and get to know him rather than treating him as just another staff member. Once I realized other JH 1.0 members were also in SYCEP, it was a mini-reunion. Compared to the distance between the Homies for weeks one and two, it was a significant atmosphere difference.

Aside from The Expo Era, a good handful of Homies did turn out to be very good people. They are hilarious, kind, courageous and compassionate. I was not always disrespected or treated as a kid — rather, an actual person who is dedicating herself to helping them grow. I appreciate these Homies the most and encourage them to keep going. They made this Job-But-Somehow-Not-A-Job a whole lot easier. Thank you. (:

The clock, Bambu drinks and Ba Le (Ba Layuh~) made me more optimistic about work as well (these were only important when a. I could not wait to leave or have lunch b. Had cash on hand and c. Was starving).

This chapter has ended and I am home again, but I shall begin a new adventure soon.

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt Anzahl Fünf

My worksite experience has proven to me one definite thing as a person who has not yet decided on a career field: I cannot handle children.

I’m sorry, I mean youth who still happen to be within my age range. (I seriously admire a large majority of the Homies — most of them have endured so much and are great people. As for the others? ….)

For the past five weeks, I have been an assistant, which means I help the higher-ups (the facilitators, in this case), devote my time to the computer screen and filing cabinets and arrange the background material for future work. Honestly, I do not mind doing all of those things in a cubicle; I can work independently and be accountable for only the work I have done or will do. That is why I am slightly leaning towards Business and Management, though I still am not completely sure of myself.

So far Journey Home has crossed off Teacher and circled Business Lady Who Can Be a Receptionist.

I have also learned that work is work: you are given a role and you are expected to do it. But what if those who were assigned tasks never even lay a finger on them?  I am the worry-ward type of person, so if something is not done for a major project, I will do the all of the work, especially if I am the one in charge of a group. Sadly. Though there are professional ways of handling the situation. You should turn to the person with more authority than you and colleagues to whip everyone into shape. They are not happy moments, but at least you will not have to the bare the weight alone.

As for all three facets, I have learned how to better present myself and communicate with others. And by presentation, I do not mean how I dress; rather, how one acts towards people with varying personas and titles. For instance, I need to be professional to facilitators and semi-casual to Homies. I need to be aware of the differences between Viet-born and American-born Homies. I need to be my best when standing in front of a group, but relaxed when alone. This does not mean I should change my personality — it is a matter of being flexible, and JH allows me to further my adaptability skills.

Still, I have personally learned to be a… nicer person. Yes, I will not like every single person I meet, but I will not see those people every day like I do the Homies. It is somewhat maddening that I am not treated with the fullest respect by the Homies simply because I am only a facilitator assistant who happens to be a minor and a part of the female minority.  However, I smile wide and let them decide the authenticity.

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt Nombre Quatre

My dream job would be not working at all.

Just kidding.

I don’t have the perfect career in mind: a lot of jobs just aren't meant for me and if they are, they are very uninteresting… But let’s go with food critic.

First and foremost, I. Love. Food. Nothing is more perfect than trying new cuisines from different places all over the city, state or even the entire east coast. Sure I’ll gain a little weight, but I think it’s worth it (keeping in mind that I hope the food will be delicious). I won’t have to cook myself breakfast, lunch or dinner, all for free (my company pays me to eat, right?) in various locations. Sadly that won’t be every single day.

Journalism also accompanies the critic’s large appetite and it’s something I would enjoy doing. My grammar and spelling isn't too horrendous, so I would do well in that portion of being a critic. For the most part, I like sharing my thoughts and it would pretty amazing knowing that I have a little fan base that actually bases their romantic reservations on my reviews.

On the other hand, I’m a bit cynical and picky.

I find a hair in my soup? 2/5 stars! Mushrooms on my steak? That’s a 0.

Again, kidding. Except about the mushrooms.

I watch the Food Network (experience!), so I would know presentation, taste, and relevance (like to the restaurant’s theme, for instance) are key. Technical errors (hairs) are also major factors to consider when judging a dish. Of course everyone does not have the same taste buds, but I think it would be pretty obvious is something tastes extremely salty or there’s a lot of inconsistent cooking throughout a piece of meat. Moreover, I have to critic the food services. Was she polite? Did he correctly input my order? Were my drinks delivered in a reasonable amount of time? How clean were my utensils? and so forth. The Food Network, as you might have noticed, has had a major impact on me and my stomach.

It’s also fun to be a food critic; you get that feeling of “Ha! I know something you all don’t.” Secretly judging people and taking note of their actions is partially like spy work (another dream job, I suppose?). Still, people’s reaction to your reviews is the pinnacle of the career. I’m sure you can imagine waitress’ horrified faces at how poorly I rated them. However, this also inspires the restaurant to do better, so it is like community work. Once it has changed whatever necessary, people will be interested in returning to the restaurant and business will boom yet again. An economic upturn.

But alas, if this job was offered to me, I think I'd only be in it for the food.

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt Số Ba

After taking my StrengthsQuest quiz, I have learned that I am an Achiever, which is all about attainment and having the drive to do; Competitive, meaning that I compare myself and performance to others so that I can accomplish more and with efficiency; Deliberative, which can, in other words, mean I am tentative about my actions, so everything has a meaning behind it; have Input, or the desire to be a pack-rat and collect whatever I find useful and/or interesting;  and, finally, Restorative, the healer of everyone’s problems. Honestly, I am not too keen about that second result: it’s scarily realistic. However, being an Achiever and Competitive go hand-in-hand, I believe. But I digress.

When it comes to my worksite in Journey Home, there is a multitude of ways that I can build upon these strengths (well, minus Competition — I do not believe there is any I would like to mention …. ).

As I have mentioned, every day in JH begins and ends differently, and therefore, nearly all the work I do varies. Some days I sit at a computer screen fixing choreo or entering data. Other days I sit in a room with the Homies to be a part of discussion or prepare the next activities. Most days I sit at a computer in a room with the Homies. Although I am not watched over constantly and graded for my work, I have the need to finish everything I am asked to do. If not, I will feel like I have accomplished nothing. Many of the tasks are simple enough to finish in a short period of time, so I have learned to ask for more work. By the end of the day, I like knowing that I spent the day being busy instead of utterly bored.

Having Input in my situation is very useful since I do not know how to pronounce everyone’s name (so shameful for Week Three) nor do I converse often. At the very least, I remember what each Homie looks like and how to spell their name. It causes less embarrassment when I need to pass out items or organize things into folders. Moreover, I tend to be an ambivert; the introvert gets the limelight at times like these, however. So whenever JH has discussions and check-ins (discussions that are focused on what the Homies want to talk about), I remember a small, interesting thing about (almost) each person. I later use that in conversation if I happen to strike one up. It is nice to remembered, no? A challenge, but the challenge of remembering 22 people allows me to develop this Input skill further.

Now that I think about it, I am not a Deliberative person; I work on impulsive action. … Anyway, my Restorative-ness tends to be prevalent on the subject of preparation. In the mornings, the facilitators usually scramble about to get all of the things in order. In cases such as these, I usually assist with simple problems, like Where’s my choreo?! and How should we convey this information? or What is the best way to deal with this person today? (not exactly like that, but you get the idea). I offer my ideas and help others develop theirs, and soon, a consensus is reached.

Journey Home is not a place where you have competitive goals to achieve or deliberate actions that need to taken so that one could input those results for later use. Restoration is not necessary either; no one has any mid-life crises here. Nevertheless, JH gives me the opportunity to demonstrate my strengths and learn more about myself.

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt Numero Dos

Work becomes a duty and with duty comes responsibility; in other words, I am held liable for everything and anything I do — it is a job, after all. First and foremost, one’s working hours must be accounted for or else s/he would have never been there initially. As for me, every day is complied of different hours, but always beginning at 9:00 AM. Last week I was to keep track of my hours on a timesheet provided by the BPSOS office. It was slightly confusing: do I include lunch?  What if it gets lost? Who exactly is checking this thing? Why aren’t my days signed off? Why is so much paper being wasted? (These questions seemed too trivial to ask.) This week, however, BPSOS’s branch manager/JH facilitator was also confused by this process (Why are you all using this paper?), so she introduced me to a computer program that records the times I enter and leave the office. In my opinion, it is easier for me and safer on the environment, though frustrating when the office’s WiFi becomes spasmodic or the computer itself is MIA.

Besides keeping time and preparing materials, I also do a lot of unexpected administrative work. This week was filed with Google Docs: from spread sheets to documents, I filled in choreographic information (choreo for short) for the upcoming weeks based on the changes the facilitators make daily and last year’s choero. Google itself keeps other members of the documents updated on who has made changes and where, which is useful if you want to blame someone for ruining your entire data entry (thankfully there is also a restorative option, so maybe confrontation is not necessary ~).

Accountability is also provided verbally as well, so listening is vital. When it comes to admin work, SYCEP members are told by one facilitator what to do and we take it from there. If someone messes up, we all know who caused the mishap and it is rare for the facilitator to forget who was put to that task. Although the person would speak up for him/herself if there was a mistake, we help each other accomplish what it was that was required. When it comes to working with the Homies, on the other hand, that is a different story. There are five facilitators, two-three SYCEP sides and about 22 Homies — confusion is inevitable. The other day, Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) came to help train the Homies in interviewing skills and recording. Once the lesson was over, the Homies were to practice in pairs based on a series of questions. This one pair made it very clear that they were finished, so one facilitator suggested that they practice as different people. It is a facilitator and I am just a helper: obviously I listen and should mention this to other pairs. In the end, however, I was made the source of that direction by the other facilitators because apparently that initial group did NOT finish what they were supposed to and said I dictated. Me? I explained what had happened thoroughly. And I was left baffled.

Each day in JH is different and so flexibility is a must-have. Although I have adapted to the atmosphere of the place, there are small stuff that pop up here and there that must be attended to. Some times I may be the one who amends them, other times I am not. Either way, I would be involved in one form or another (like being blamed for something I did not start, just voiced …). But that is a demand of the working world and I need to be prepared, or rather, adapted for it soon.

[sycep-an]

Weekly Prompt #1

As an employee for BPSOS’s other summer program, Journey Home, I currently do not face too many difficulties, but rather, a handful of benefits. I am actually really glad about my worksite: I was a part of JH last summer, so I know most of the activities and routines the facilitators have arranged. Many of these activities include workshops and discussing in groups. Generally, I keep facilitators on task when it comes to time as well as prepare materials for upcoming tasks. Other times, I assist JH members (Homies for short — shall we?) with their small projects and keep them focused.

One vital aspect every person should have with their workplace is ease of communication. Fortunately, it is a breeze for me to talk to my co-workers about changes, new ideas, peaks, valleys and the like. The week before this, I had a meeting with the facilitators about my role in the program and we discussed my schedule, which was helpful so that we would all know what to expect. Along with debriefings early in the morning, during lunch and at the end of day, I feel comfortable voicing my concerns to my co-workers.

As for the drawbacks, however, an impediment I face daily is a communication barrier between the Homies and me. Like I have encountered last year, I cannot directly speak to those born in Vietnam; my Vietnamese is limited and just awful. Journey Home is meant to be a bilingual program and a large number of the members speak little to no English. Therefore, I always need someone else to translate what I say (though I can understand a majority of conversation, ironically). But a lot of topics include words that are not used in daily conversation, so I am lost amid sentences. Furthermore, more than half of the Homies are males in high school or freshmen in college. As one of the younger facilitators who is female, some times I feel as if I am not taken seriously. For instance, if I ask someone to put their cell phone away, he would do it. Yet as time passes, I would notice that the device is back in his hands. So I would have to tell someone else to tell him. By then, the person listens. … My sternness is something I need to work on, I believe.

Still, I love being a part of JH. It is different now that I am the one working behind the scenes, making this program work. I will be able to see how each person grows throughout the next five weeks and what kind of people they are. Honestly, I do not think of myself as a people person, but it is great to meet people and I know this program will help me communicate better to them, specifically with youth (though they are my age). As for adapting to this change, it is essential that I am flexible and professional. Things move quickly when you are a side facilitator and time tracker, so you must be ready if you need to fill in or make changes to the day’s schedule. Plus, as I mentioned before, I am not the one sitting down to learn; I have to act as a sort of leader for the Homies. But with the help of the people surrounding me, it was not that arduous for me to transition.